John Jefferson
Background: Hubbard County Courthouse (Google Maps). Inset: Timothy Michael Scouton (Hubbard County Sheriffs Office).
An election judge in Minnesota has been charged with two felonies after allegedly allowing 11 unregistered voters to cast their ballots in the 2024 election.
Timothy Michael Scouton, the head election judge in Badoura Township Precinct in Minnesota’s Hubbard County, allegedly instructed the voters not to fill out new voter registration forms, instead telling them that signing “the back of a book” would suffice in order for them to vote. In Minnesota, a same-day voter registration policy would have allowed those voters to vote legally. Scouton, however, reportedly did not have them fill out those forms.
Hubbard County Auditor Kay Rave was looking for completed voter registration forms among the materials returned to her by Scouton following Election Day. Local Fox affiliate KMSP reported that Rave asked Scouton where those forms were, but “he could not find the registration forms.” According to The Minnesota Star Tribune, she found them, but he reportedly told her “they did not use them.” Rave initially emailed Hubbard County Attorney Jonathan Frieden, who died of cancer just days after the election. The email was then sent to sheriff’s investigator Bill Schlag. In the email, Rave “confirmed that 11 people who voted did not complete the registration forms used to authenticate their identities.”
The criminal complaint also cited Scouton’s son, Andrew Scouton, who was also serving as an election judge on Election Day and “would have been responsible for registration applications since he was sitting where persons entering would speak with him first.”
A police investigator reached out to another election judge who had been working with Scouton the night of the election, and she stated that Scouton apparently “instructed her to not use the Minnesota Voter Registration Application form.”
A criminal complaint against Scouton was filed on Friday.
The Associated Press reported that Scouton met with an investigator at the Hubbard County Sheriff’s Office and was read his rights, but he did not provide a statement and was arrested. After being charged with two felony counts — one count of accepting the vote of an unregistered voter and one count of neglect of duty by an election official — he was booked and released on bail. The two charges carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a potential fine of up to $10,000.
“These allegations are extremely serious and must be fully and thoroughly investigated,” Minnesota’s Secretary of State Steve Simon said in a statement. “Election judges take an oath to administer elections in accordance with the law, a deliberate failure to do so is unlawful and a betrayal of the public trust. Minnesota’s elections rely on the dedication and public service of 30,000 people and they are required to conduct their work fairly, impartially, and within the letter of the law. The Hubbard County Auditor took prompt and correct action in notifying local authorities of the uncovered discrepancies so they could investigate.”
Neither Scouton nor his attorney had released a statement to the press by the time of publication.
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